I'm wondering if the way the author glazed over the topic of prostitution was misogynist or harmful.
It's Taisho Era (1900's) Japan, are those districts even known for prostitution anymore?
Then again, wasn't Daki, the main villain,
Are there any other ways this anime is misogynist? I'd argue the muteness of Nezuko is balanced by how the main male characters aren't particular deep in their characters or bonds and that characters like the Butterfly Mansion girls exist.
I found it to be handled decently given that the show is action/fighting focused. The season wasn't specifically about prostitution. It showcased women trying to escape prostitution or the escape being used as a way to "get rid" of them, how nonchalantly people sold women, how women would want to climb to the top of this system to gain privileges over others and exert power over them, the connections they built among one another in hopes of easing pain and desparation.
Daki being burned alive for refusing prostitution is proof of that. She and her brother only wanted to live and Daki had enough pride and integrity to refuse to sell her own body. She paid the price for that. It is - not even for a second - portrayed lightly. She says - no - and is burned for it. Her brother couldn't save her. She was turned into a monster and the only thing she knew how to use was her "looks". In the end it becomes VERY obvious that, despite her age, she was still "just" a traumatized little kid.
The show didn't "say" a lot of things. Characters interact with the world in the same way people living during that time would. Some view it as normal, others are overwhelmed, some embrace it, some use it, some reject it. It even had a nice little mention of Lookism as a concept.
As for Nezuko, I actually like that she is "mute". Because she doesn't even have to say a word, yet everyone can understand her. She is expressive and just her "reacting" with a >No< is enough for others to step back. To me, actions speak louder than words and despite normally disliking female Characters, I actually ended up liking her a LOT. Normally the high pitched squeaky voices or whining that they often ascribe to female characters would have turned me off immediately, but she is just a sweet, protective sister. I found it incredibly cool to see that, despite her inability to speak, she was respected. Haven't watched Demon Slayer in ages now, so I apologize if I forgot anything or misinterpret others.
Well there's how Tengen randomly spanked Aoi while trying to kidnap her, and nobody said anything about it.
As as for Daki, I don't understand why she became a prostitute again if it was so bad she stabbed someone and got murdered for it.
I at least don't mind Nezuko as a character.
As for Tengen, I don't want to sperg about him, but he is morally very much further on the evil slider considering that he was portrayed to come from a clan of evil murder ninjas with forced filicide where he was just supposed to breed his wives like pigs so they wouldn't run out of members. For what its worth, he got them out of that. And at least they didn't let him abduct the kid.
About Daki however - women who were victims of SA oftentimes seek out SA as a way to regain power over the situation. She was a victim of it and then became both victim and predator in turn. It's how her stunted, pained mind dealt with the situation. It's painfully realistic, even down to the point of putting other women down/treating them like props or objects to lift yourself up.
I get being mad when horrible realities are not being questioned by participating characters, but to a degree, I also find it cathartic to see it. Knowing what women went through, how they were treated, disregarded and sold as property. It makes me realize, personally, how privileged I am in many ways and it also forces me to look at the living reality of other women. There are other pieces of media that have women and men fight for their right for equality and object to mistreatment. But Demon Slayer is primarily about the war of human vs monster and the journey of two siblings.
But again, I do believe Tengen at least dragging his three wives away from being treated like livestock is as far as his progressiveness goes considering the country, year and his upbringing.
Daki.... remember the end? I believe saying that both Tengen and Daki are terrible or that the season isn't nuanced is in itself a superficial criticism. The criticism of red light districts happens when sleepyhead is drawn in despite being what, 14? 15? When they dress up and he is constantly belittled and treated less for being "ugly". Or how Inosuke is only bought out because of his face in comparison. It happens when the prostitutes write about finally being bought out by their lovers and when they disappear, how they are branded as criminals. How nobody really looks for them. How Daki's mother sold herself to feed her kids and gave one of them Syphilis which led to her own untimely demise. Or how even little girls were pushed into the districts, entirely at the mercy of "older sisters" to care for and protect them.
It was harrowing. Honestly, I found the prostitution angle and the moral greyness to be harrowing and disturbing. Sad maybe. And I cried like a hild in the end.
Also, really no insult to you. Absolutely not. I actually really enjoyed thinking about it and I'd love to hear some bounceback if you have any! Thank you for making me think about it :)
None of this was shown about Tengen though. Him spanking Aoi for no reason is treated as lighthearted. Everything Tengen did was just because he had differing ways, most mainly about him being "flashy," not out of concern for women's rights or anything.
Daki going back to prostitution being an attempt at reclaiming power feels like a copium read into the situation tbh. Given how none of her reason for doing this was explored and how she only got the traditional "this-is-how-I-became-a-demon" sobstory, the Doylist explanation is more suitable, that being that the author just wanted the setting to be a glorified, exciting red-light district, and a demon to fight against who was a flashy oiran was necessary to add to the aesthetic. And didn't she put other women down just because she was an asshole? Pretty sure her brother taught her to just take what she wanted.
I don't understand how it's cathartic to you to realize you're privileged. Wouldn't you be indignant that other people use their privilege to glorify the abuse of women? And at the very least, if a war between humans and demons was shown, the author couldn't have glorified prostitution along the way. And I want an exciting escapist media that at least subverts glorifying women's abuse, not buying into it.
Again, the arc did mention Daki's mom being a prostitute and naming her after fucking syphillis. However, it goes to glorify prostitution anyway and give no reaosn for Daki returning to that lifestyle. That's not nuance, that a cop-out disguised as a complex backstory. Also, Tanjiro and Zenitsu being the ugly ones are played off as jokes, and nobody makes t an issue that little girls are in these districts. If showing something isn't approving of it, neither is it criticizing it.
All of that was shown, though. His Dad put all of Tengens siblings into a tournament to kill each other and his three wives were given to him not as partners but as breeding machines. He also gave his wives a choice to leave him. Is that odd? Yes. I didn't like the 3 wives situation either and to me, it was the most annoying thing about the season to be quite frank. But he quite literally broke every single tradition to get his wives out of an even more miserable life. Now, to my disappointment, some of that was only included in the author's notes, but it is established that one of the reasons he left is the mistreatment of women. He never left to be flashy, he left because his family were horrible pieces of shit.
I also never said that she gained or reclaimed power by going back into prostitution. I said it is a normal thing that SADLY happens with women who become victimized. That was the only life she knew and it was what she went back to for various reasons. And I'll be honest, saying that "this is just a sobstory to glorify prostitution" is kind of very.... iffy. It was explicitly shown how much women suffer under the system, how the flashy facade was nothing than a sad reality. The red light district IS flashy and mysterious and cool - until you look under the surface and realize the horrors of what's truly happening there. Women and children being bought and sold like chattel, which is mentioned and shown and to the civilized viewer should feel horrifying. I mean, the most egregious hint that prostitution is HORRENDOUS is Daki's name. Her name is SYPHILIS. You mentioned it yourself, that is everything BUT glorification.Her mother was killed by Syphilis. Her brother Gyutarou was disfigured by it. And that only really highlights other scenes such as prostitutes looking forward to being bought out by actual lovers because they wanted to escape this life.
Her putting women down is quite literally just a result both of how she was raised, her unhealthy relationship to her mother and brother as well as how people treated her in regards to her looks. She was supposed to be a beautiful princess and she wanted to earn lots of money in her youthful mind. Other women were simply lesser than her. It's horribly abusive and toxic.
As to how it's cathartic: It always helps to be faced with the worst of humanity to realize what stands to loose. And to realize how far we've come. One tends to forget that what we have in life is very fragile. The sacrifices people make every day. All of the horrendous things around it. Personally, it enables me to refocus on things that are actually important and it does renew my spirit to pick up discussions about harsh topics with others.
But overall I just have to say, I really disagree with you on this one. Despite the occasional jokey tone, none of my friends - especially including the male ones - thought of this as glorifying prostitution. They were actually much more open to talking about how horrendous it is AFTER watching the season. There was so much going on in small gestures that I honestly am getting the impression you entirely missed. You saw Tengen smack a 16 year old girl on the butt and had your mind made up when he didn't get chastised immediately, you didn't see everyone having a breakdown or monologue on how terrible the red light district is and you went ahead and said "this is glorifying prostitution". It's literally the first time I heard it said, considering that my own interpretation and that of friends entirely differs from it. That's why I was so intrigued. But it really just feels like you got severely ticked off by a few minute details and immediately made up your mind. And I wholly get it, but it's a habit I left in the dust a few years ago. Again, no insult to you on my part, I respect that that is your opinion, but if I point at things that basically outline how the show portrays prostitution being bad and you wipe it away with "well it's not good enough/it's a McGuffin" or something, then you're not really giving me anything to work with here. None of the prostitutes there proclaimed being happy with being there. But there were tons of scenes where you could tell that there was suffering, normalization of such suffering and how horrendous the overall situation was.
I'll concede on Tengen's motivations but the whole "kidnapping" scene being so lighthearted, and the ass smack wasn't warranted. The entire time he was moaning about how Tanjiro was being unflashy for pointing it out and then after Tanjiro righteously tells him to stop treating girls badly he smacks her on the ass and nothing is said about it. WHY? That's not a good setup to portraying women's issues with the respect it deserves.
I get that you didn't say that she actually reclaimed power but, even if what you're saying about Daki displaying typical SA victim behavior and attempting to reclaim power through prostitution was true, what was shown about Daki's life as a oiran was that it was pretty damn glorious. She gets paraded around the streets, makes everyone her b****, and we never get to see her deal with """customers""" or their shit or how she doesn't want to fuck random ugly men (that would be degrading, having sex with someone you don't want) on top of all that. That's not showcasing the horrors of prostitution at all, it's just tight-lipped on it at best. Again, Doylist explanation is that all the things that can be remotely construed as criticism of the red light district is shoved into the siblings' backstory in typrical Demon Slayer fashion, making it so that the Doylist explanation for including all of this is for you to feel bad for Daki like you would for any other demon with a sad backstory, a backstory that's narrated by Gyuutaro in the first place. Therefore, they're not that special as far as the Upper Moons come.
As you say, DS isn't interested in addressing social issues, it's about humans and demons. However, because of that, it fell into the common trap of leaning in too much on the flashy fights and characters in a way that causes a tonal dissonance with the subject matter at hand. All the "little nitpicks" you speak of aren't accidental, they reflect larger societal attitudes that I'm tired of tolerating in the media I consume.
I personally disliked how nonchalant everyone in the show was about giving away minors to work in Brothels in the entertainment arc. I tried to find online discussions about this but kept seeing the old: it was a different time, or you shouldn't judge their culture. Which I honestly don't agee with. Things in history would never have changed so long as we accept harmful practices simply because tradition/ culture. Also this may be unpopular but I found Tengen Uzui insufferable. His personality was annoying, unrelatable, predatory , and pretentious. Furthermore he constantly harmed the main three Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu whenever they even said something to irritate him. Male characters that can't control themselves when angered are a pet peeve of mine. Enough of them exist in real life. Also Tengen is also creepy towards female children. He literally held a underage girl to restrain her movement and struck her rear end. I'm referring to the scene with Uzui and Aoi. People in online discussions of course defended him until they were foaming out the mouth. As a result of the scene with Aoi I was irritated that they gave the creep three wives. Which of course made the XY's love him and his shitty personality even more than they did. However I was pleased with the animation of the various different battles but I was rooting for Tengen to lose. I'm only sorry he didn't lose more limbs. Apologies for the rant. I was exited to reply because I never bothered to in any of the online discussions that I saw. I wasn't going to argue with other adults that a grown twenty something year old man slapping a 16 year old's hindquarters is anything more than creepy and vile.
Edit for spelling and formatting.
Yeah wtf. Not even Tanjiro said anything about Tengen spanking her randomly after saying he'd release her. Fucking creep
Exactly! I love Ovarit so much! My faith in humanity plummeted even further reading all the justification comments for the clearly inappropriate behavior in the online discussions I found. I'm so happy we have sanity here. All the XY's were only telling on themselves to be creeps who clearly should never be any where near vulnerable persons let alone children.